Mining Cards bad? good?

[Magnus17]

is mining gpu’s really bad? 

 

what is the problem with mining cards?

[aisle9]

Is there a warranty on it? eBay puts a 30-day guarantee on their cards no matter what the seller says.

 

If you're buying it on Facebook Marketplace, assume it's broken, but that's true of literally any electronics you get there. In my recent experience, no one puts something on FB Marketplace because they just want to sell it to upgrade or whatever. They're putting it up there because it doesn't work.

[Crunchy Dragon]

If the mining card was taken care of, it'll generally be fine.

[Bob__]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

Is there a warranty on it? eBay puts a 30-day guarantee on their cards no matter what the seller says.

 

If you're buying it on Facebook Marketplace, assume it's broken, but that's true of literally any electronics you get there. In my recent experience, no one puts something on FB Marketplace because they just want to sell it to upgrade or whatever. They're putting it up there because it doesn't work.

yeah that seems to be about what I have seen as well

[aledsav1]

Nothing wrong with mining cards I have bought 1000's over the years, same as any used card if they work they work...all depends on how well they have been kept.

A serious miner will have more than likely tweaked the cards to not have the core in use though may have overclocked the memory, so some degredation there, also might need a reflash if they used mining bioses.

 

I recently paid £5650 for 16 rtx card 3070/80/90s 1 had a 1 card though working it had a blown component that I got fixed for £100

 

regarding FB marketplace, I cannot say my experience is of items being faulty, I buy from FB weekly and have never bought a faulty item unless it was stated, been buying for years off all online used markets, so I go into buying the advertised item without fear of being ripped off, and other than a few scammers over the years have had nothing but positive transactions, obviously theres no cover like ebay so its a risk, but I always meet face to face at the persons address, theres my gaurantee!

[aisle9]

46 minutes ago, aledsav1 said:

I always meet face to face at the persons address, theres my gaurantee!

I won't kick that can of worms open beyond saying that I have never once agreed to meet at someone's house, nor have I ever accepted a request to meet at mine. My safety is worth more than what that lowballer is willing to pay.

[starsmine]

Mining cards on average will not be any worse then any other used card. There is often a strong argument they will be better due to low thermal cycles. 

[aledsav1]

21 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

I won't kick that can of worms open beyond saying that I have never once agreed to meet at someone's house, nor have I ever accepted a request to meet at mine. My safety is worth more than what that lowballer is willing to pay.

We are all conditioned somewhat differently..not judgemental, just fact

[Mick Naughty]

You mean an actual card made for mining? Or just a used gpu?

Nothing wrong with a used card, they fail regardless of use. Can’t just blame mining ignorantly. 

[aisle9]

30 minutes ago, aledsav1 said:

We are all conditioned somewhat differently..not judgemental, just fact

My statement was inaccurate. Age and elapsed time have seen to that. I have gone to someone else's house. Once. And that's why I don't do it anymore.

 

But yeah, I get it. I've gotten into some minor dustups with Bryan over at Tech Yes City in the comments section over it, and I just don't watch that channel anymore because he still pushes his viewers to insist that sellers give them their home address so the buyer can, in his own explanation, show up on the seller's doorstep if something doesn't work. That's dangerous advice no matter what, even more dangerous now that it seems everyone is willing to shoot anyone that happens to stumble into their front yard. But I'm really digressing and going off topic.

 

Back to the original question, I've bought plenty of mining cards off of eBay and never had a major issue that couldn't be fixed with an INAD return. A skilled miner will have their GPUs on an open bench, or at least in a very roomy, very well-ventilated case, and they'll be running them with a power limit around 55-65% of what the card is capable of to max out efficiency and manage temperatures. After all, a big part of what makes mining work economically is reselling the equipment when better stuff becomes available. Those are the cards I don't blink about buying.

 

The ones I blink on are the ones from amateurs on Facebook Marketplace. The guys who crank their two overclocked RX 580s up to a power level of 110% inside of a cheap mATX micro tower with one fan that they have stupidly set to intake, left sitting on a filthy carpet right next to the cat's bed. Those are the used cards you find on FB Marketplace around here, and everywhere I've lived since getting back into the computer hobby (TX, MN, FL, GA). If you look at pictures in the listing, you can almost always tell how the card has been taken care of and if it's worth your time. If there are no pictures outside of a single one zoomed in close on the card, well, that tells you everything right there.

 

Basically OP, do your homework, be smart, inspect the card, and just buy it on eBay because you have a 30-day return policy there. On local marketplaces, your warranty period ends the second you hand over the cash.

[PriitM]

I would not buy second hand unless:

 

You know the seller personally and they have good history logs to show what they have done

The seller is willing to provide extensive information with proof

 

If they cant provide this (even on ebay, screw the 30 day return policy), be very very skeptical about any info on the cards.

Theres plenty of good tips on this thread already, but main thing is to keep a very very skeptical stance on ex-mining cards. Never forget: they have ROI on them already, they can send them to landfill if needed. What ever they can get from potential "suckers" like you is just icing on the cake for the next mining rig...
 

[aledsav1]

well after buying 1000's of ex mining cards over the last 5 years (mainly from a seriously substantial mining farm) and putting plenty into gaming builds which are still in use, and selling individually on ebay/fb/gt market places, I have many previous customers who have me saved as a seller and friended on fb, I have probably had 0.05 percent of issues with used/mining cards and pc parts in general where I have replaced like for like for a buyer, thats a low issue rate

 

If you are buying a used card on ebay regardless there is very little chance you will have access to the history of that card, if the seller has the original bill of sale from 3 months ago then you might be onto knowing something about the card..

 

There is not an insignificant amount of new unopened cards that are DOA, or die shortly after purchase, there are cards that have been used for years that then suddenly die, there are cards that die just after the warranty period..this applies to all goods

 

To be as secure as you can the only real way is buying new and having the warranty and guarantee, outside of that used is used very little protection like a used car, unless you've got the money to buy everything in life new (not me) then used is often the only option for some of us to access things in life.